This tax on Londoners will put women's safety at risk

The decision by Conservative-run Westminster Council to impose a new tax on Londoners, a new parking charge of up to £4.80 an hour at evenings and weekends, will worry many across the city.

It will mean no more free parking on a single yellow line after 6.30pm for Londoners.

This is bad news for many - restaurateurs, visitors to the West End and particularly for women going out for a night of fun with friends or to work in the evening, who use their own cars when public transport may not be available.

Such a decision risks women's safety. It is typical of a Conservative Party out of touch with the reality of women's lives.

It's part of a wider pattern. David Cameron's policies are hitting women hardest. His Government is choosing to make women pay a higher price than men for deficit reduction.

Women across London are shouldering more than two-thirds of the burden of his changes to taxes, tax credits and benefits - more is being taken from families with children than from the banks which caused the financial crisis in the first place.

Time and again it is becoming clear that David Cameron's Conservatives are letting women down. Instead of imposing new charges that could affect women particularly hard, they need to set out urgently what they will do to ease the pressure on women's lives.